Hercules and the Hydra; wielding a torch he attacks the winged, multi-headed Hydra in rocky landscape, a hawk attacks a heron in the sky
Cristofano di Michele Martini (Il Robetta) Italian
After Antonio Pollaiuolo Italian
Not on view
The son of the God Jupiter and the mortal Alcmene, Hercules (Herakles in Greek) possessed a superhuman strength that allowed him to defeat tyrants and destroy monsters. As the legendary founder of Florence, he appeared on the city seal already in the thirteenth century. In 1460, Pollaiuolo painted three canvases depicting the labors of Hercules for the great hall of the Medici palace in Florence, the first large-scale mythological decorations of the Renaissance. Robetta's engraving seems to record one of these lost works, in which Hercules battles the Hydra with a torch. By cauterizing the Hydra's wounds with fire, the hero was able to prevent two new heads from sprouting each time one was cut off. Robetta also made an engraving after Pollaiulo's 'Hercules and Antaeus', the pendant painting to 'Hercules and the Hydra'.
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